Amazon Buys Twitch for $970 Million

In a transaction with potential local implications, Amazon announced Monday it will buy live-streaming video game site Twitch for $970 million in cash.

“Broadcasting and watching gameplay is a global phenomenon and Twitch has built a platform that brings together tens of millions of people who watch billions of minutes of games each month,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and chief executive, in a statement. “Like Twitch, we obsess over customers and like to think differently, and we look forward to learning from them and helping them move even faster to build new services for the gaming community.”

Twitch launched in 2011 to feature live video of gamers. More than 55 million unique visitors watched 15 billion minutes of content on the San Francisco company’s site last month.

Games developed by local studios such as Riot Games in West L.A., Activision Blizzard in Santa Monica and Electronic Arts in Playa Vista rank among the most viewed on Twitch’s platform. Riot Games’ League of Legends is by far the most popular streamed game, consistently bringing in more than 100,000 live viewers every day.